Gallagher: Crosby's new contract should come in at the $9 million mark

Back before the NHL was able to get the present Collective Bargaining Agreement into place, the biggest warning from those who would have resisted much longer against its installation came with respect to setting player against player, teammate against teammate.

We've seen it happen here with the likes of the Sedin twins, Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows taking less money for the betterment of the team but nowhere is it more likely to rear its head than this summer in Pittsburgh when the Pens sign Sidney Crosby to a new contract which will kick in at the end of this next season.

And here they pretty much have to ignore the concussion history even though that history might mean they can't insure the deal because if they don't sign him, another team will and no general manager is going to let Crosby go to another team out of risk. There's a very good chance he'll never get another concussion, that having been the case with many players.

Given the present collective bargaining agreement—and that's the one he's going to want to sign under—for every dollar that Crosby takes on the salary cap, it means another dollar one of his teammates like Evgeny Malkin or Jordan Staal or some other player down the food chain can't have. And in that sense, for every dollar he takes up on the cap, the less his chances are in theory of winning another Stanley Cup. So being the nice guy he is, he will likely come in with a cap number in the same vicinity it's in at the moment or slightly higher, roughly the $9 million U.S. mark. Now the contract will probably be structured so that for the first year or two he'll get somewhere near what he's worth which is in the $15 million U.S. range, but after that it's going to have to drop off considerably and even have a couple of throw away years when he's definitely not expected to play just to be able to pay him that much for a couple of season.

And yes he's worth that much and likely more because he means so much to the Penguins in terms of corporate sponsors, advertising and promotion to say nothing of what he means to the league. Without him there may not be a Consol Energy centre and yet, he is forced to take so much less than what he's worth long term because of what the owners were able to achieve in that last CBA. And the irony here is that Crosby's owner Mario Lemieux, who would silently yet implicitly ask his player to take less for the betterment of the team, is the very man who insisted his own deal include a clause that he be paid at least $1 million more than any other player in the NHL over the course of his long contract back when he was playing. The hypocrisy is beyond credibility. That clause was aimed specifically at Wayne Gretzky of course, those two rivals for years, but now he, having eaten his fill as a player, has switched sides where he now feeds out of the owner's trough.

Adding to Crosby's indignity here is that he has an agent for this bizarre process, in this case Pat Brisson of CAA sports in LA. Excuse me? He pays an agent to get him millions less than what he's worth in the real market place? How do those discussions go? Does Brisson take a minus-value commission? It's almost a parody of the profession, something out of a Monty Python skit.

Pens' GM Ray Shero is already on record a couple of years back saying 'He'll (Crosby) tell us what he wants and we'll pay,' knowing that the salary cap structure was already in place and that Crosby was not the kind of guy to stand in the way of success. Having an agent lift a percentage on top of what's already about to take place is nothing short of twisted and to make matters all the more complicated, the same agency represents Malkin who will be exactly a year behind Crosby in this same process at almost identical numbers. And at the moment, the big Russian might be the best player in the game although there's no way he's worth as much as Crosby is to the team or the league.

Some time after July 1 they'll announce the new deal. And somewhere Lemieux will be sitting with a big smile on his face and glass of great Cabernet in his hand, listening to others calling Crosby greedy.

By Ron Seymour KELOWNA — The gangster accused of ordering the killing of Jonathan Bacon was in a good...

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.